Basque radical left must break ETA link: PM

Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero on Sunday demanded that radical, left-wing Basque separatists "take additional steps" to distance themselves from ETA, saying, "four months [rejecting ETA] isn't enough time" to convince everyone after four decades of Basque terrorism.

"They have advanced, but they must take additional steps, more decisive and firm, to reject, forget and make a definitive break with violence," Zapatero said at a rally by his Socialist party in Durango, Vizcaya in the Basque Country.

Zapatero also had a message for ETA: "We ask of them only one step, a step backwards, the definitive renunciation of violence, with no conditions."

The Bildu electoral coalition, formed earlier this month by former members of the outlawed Batasuna party with two legitimate radical left parties ?- Eusko Alkartasuna (EA) and Alternatiba ? will announce today its slate with 300 candidates running for positions in the May 22 municipal elections in the Basque Country and Navarre.

EA Secretary General Pello Urizar assured reporters on Sunday that all the candidates have complied with the law, including pledging to renounce ETA violence.

Urizar attacked the Socialists and the Popular Party for recent statements that Bildu's candidates have links to terrorism. "They just want to generate fear, but we are not worried because we are committed to doing everything by the law."

Bildu was quickly formed after the Supreme Court on April 7 rejected an attempt four months ago by radical abertzale leftists to register a new party, Sortu. In a divided decision, the justice on the bench ruled that Sortu would serve as an ETA political platform and many of its members are from Batasuna, which was banned in 2003.